The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus, and more particularly relates to an automatic developing apparatus for developing silver halide photosensitive material. Specifically, the present invention relates to an improvement in a processing agent supply mechanism provided in an automatic developing apparatus. In other words, the present invention relates to a compact automatic developing apparatus in which dissolution work is avoided so that the workability can be greatly improved and further excellent photographic characteristics can be stably provided.
After silver halide material has been exposed to light, it is subjected to the processing of development, desilvering, washing and stabilization. Usually, this processing is conducted by an automatic developing apparatus. In this case, a replenishment type developing apparatus is generally adopted, in which a replenisher is fed into the automatic developing apparatus. Due to the foregoing replenishment type developing apparatus, the degree of activity of the processing agent in a processing tank can be controlled to be a predetermined level.
In the replenishment type developing apparatus, objects of the replenishment are to dilute substance that has dissolved out from photosensitive material, and to replenish components that have evaporated and consumed. As a result of replenishment, a large amount of solution overflows and is discharged out of the developing apparatus.
In order to process photosensitive materials on a commercial base, it is necessary to reduce the cost and labor. Also, it is necessary to prevent the public pollution. Further, in order to enhance the commodity value, it is necessary to use a processing solution, the amount of which is as small as possible, and it is also necessary that the processing performance is stable and excellent.
In order to meet the demand described above, a method is disclosed in the official gazette of W092/20013, by which almost all processing agent components are solidified and directly charged into a processing tank.
However, this method is disadvantageous in that a moisture proof measure can not be appropriately taken. Further, powder generated from the solidified processing agent is scattered and mixed in another processing tank, so that the photographic performance is deteriorated. Consequently, it is urgent to develop technology for solving the above problems.
In the processing of photosensitive material, the quality of processing agent must be very severely controlled. Processing is usually conducted around a temperature of 40.degree. C. Therefore, the humidity is very high in the processing apparatus. Unless much consideration is given to the storage of solid processing agent, it absorbs moisture in the apparatus so that the quality of the processing agent is deteriorated before it is sapplied into the processing tank, and further it becomes impossible to stably supply the processing agent. For this reason, it is very important to take measures of moisture proof in the processing tank of photosensitive material.